The moment we here at RAMzine saw that Australian head crushers Cursed Earth were about to drop a star-studded EP, our blackened hearts calloused hearts got racing like a cheetah on speed. All too often some great names have dropped from our scene for one reason or another and this looked all too likely for the Perth riff lords. Following the departure of vocalist Jazmine Luders due to personal reasons, it seemed the fate of Cursed Earth was sealed. With two ludicrously heavy albums that could melt a face at a hundred paces, not to mention a killer split they did back in 2015 with Burning Season, it made the news of Luders’ departure all the harder to bare.
So, seeing they’ve not only come back with an EP that sounds thicker than one of Godzilla’s thighs, sparked hope in the eyes of the metal community but also acts as a rallying cry from our world’s finest. Larissa Stupar (Venom Prison), Joel Birch (The Amity Affliction), Nick Adams (Justice For The Damned), Booka Nile and Sean Harmanis (Make Them Suffer), Mark Poida (Aversions Crown) and Jake McDonald (Cast Down) all make their appearances respectively on this mixtape. Notably Stuper on ‘Tyranny Forever’ is seven shades of arse-wallop that tackles the atrocities and inhumanity witnessed in Western Australia by British colonialism, a subject Stuper throws herself into with teeth gnashing at your ears.
Don’t let it twenty-minute run time fool you, this EP packs a barbed knuckleduster in its pocket. From its Code Orange inspired sludgy breakdowns on ‘Operation’ to the final onslaught of ‘Burn’, this EP picks you up from the mud, makes you look at the horrors around you and gets you fucking mad!
From start to finish this is a seminal return. Fingers crossed this jump starts the band back up as they continue to search for a vocalist to fill that void. Either way, The Deathbed Sessions is sure to satisfy fans and newcomers alike and will leave you to pick out the bits of glass, napalm and bits of fist our from your teeth for weeks to come.
The Deathbed Sessionsis out now via UNFD.
